MARY & GEORGE
Binge from Wednesday, 2 July on Showmax
South African auteur Oliver Hermanus (Living, Moffie, Skoonheid) helms the first three episodes of Emmy-nominated series Mary & George, Rotten Tomatoes’ fifth best anthology or limited series of 2024.
Based on a scandalous true story, the historical drama stars Oscar winner Julianne Moore and Nicholas Galitzine (The Idea of You) as Mary Villiers and her son, George, who schemed, seduced and killed to conquer the Court of England – via the bed of King James I.
Giving it a 5/5-star review, The Guardian headlined, “Julianne Moore has ludicrously good fun in 17th-century raunchfest,” saying, “This audacious drama has poisonings by prune, lesbian affairs, murders, orgies – and a family so monstrous they make the Borgias look like the Waltons. It is magnificent… [and] more fun than I can possibly tell you.”
CODE 13 S1
Binge from Monday, 7 July on Showmax
Set in the gritty heart of Joburg, Code 13 follows Bheki Ndlovu (SAFTA winner Zolisa Xaluva from Gomora), a no-nonsense Jozi detective tasked with recapturing six of the city’s most dangerous criminals after they escape from a police van.
From award-winning producers Seriti Films (Gomora), the Mzansi Magic drama co-stars SAFTA nominee Lunathi Mampofu (Emma on The River), Aluve Mjali (How to Manifest a Man), and Primo Baloyi (Lingashoni), as well as SAFTA nominee Zikhona Bali (Asanda in Diep City) and SAFTA winners Saint Seseli (How to Ruin Christmas), Thami Mngqolo (aka Generations’ Senzo), and Kenneth Nkosi (Tsotsi).
DUSTER S1
First on Showmax | Binge from Wednesday, 9 July
Set in the 1970s, Duster follows a gutsy getaway driver whose life goes from dangerous to wildly, stupidly dangerous when the FBI’s first Black woman agent comes to town, hellbent on taking down his crime family.
From JJ Abrams (Lost, Westworld, Star Wars: The Force Awakens) and series creator and showrunner LaToya Morgan, Duster stars Josh Holloway (Yellowstone, Lost) and Rachel Hilson (This Is Us), as well as three-time Emmy winner Keith David (American Fiction), Greg Grunberg (Heroes) and Emmy nominee Corbin Bernsen (LA Law).
Duster has a 92% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with Mashable hailing the eight-part series as “nothing less than an absolute joyride.”
LAST CALL: WHEN A SERIAL KILLER STALKED QUEER NEW YORK
Binge from Thursday, 10 July on Showmax
In the early 1990s, with homophobia and hate crimes on the rise as the Aids crisis worsened, a serial killer preyed upon gay men in New York City, infiltrating the city’s vibrant queer nightlife to find his victims.
Rotten Tomatoes’ best-reviewed docuseries of 2023, Last Call: When A Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York is a gripping true-crime series that delves into how deep-rooted biases in the criminal justice system, the media and the public’s perception of the victims undermined the investigation and enabled a brutal killer to prey on a marginalised community.
Winner of the 2024 Dorian Award for Best LGBTQ TV Documentary, the HBO documentary mini-series has a 100% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes. In their five-star review, The Guardian hailed it as “a masterclass in righteous, savvy TV… Thoughtful, tender, enraging: this vivid documentary … keeps the victims at its heart – and shows that dangerous homophobia is no thing of the past.”
South African Oscar winner Charlize Theron is one of the executive producers.
THE NAZI CARTEL
First on Showmax | Binge from Thursday, 10 July
The Nazi Cartel is set in 1980, when a notorious Nazi and a Narco overthrew the Bolivian government and established the first cocaine state, paving the way for figures like Pablo Escobar and the drug cartels of today.
Directed by Emmy winner Justin Webster (Gabo: The Creation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez), the three-part documentary centres on three men: notorious Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie; Roberto Suarez, a Bolivian businessman who controlled 90% of the world’s cocaine trade at the time; and DEA undercover agent Michael Levine, who sought to expose and destroy them.
“The Nazi Cartel highlights an unknown connection between Nazism and drug trafficking, at a time when we wish both would be nothing but closed chapters in our history books,” says CannesSeries, where the series had its world premiere in competition in April this year. “Through unprecedented testimonies and powerful historical reminders, this is a series that is as informative as it is chilling.”
MY BROTHER’S KEEPER S2
Binge from Friday, 11 July on Showmax
My Brother’s Keeper follows a family thrown into a deadly succession battle of its own making, as Nqubeko, a headstrong and overambitious son of a mistress breaks the rules of ukungena by going after his brother’s widow, Fakazile.
The most streamed local show on DStv Stream in 2024, My Brother’s Keeper was up for four SAFTAs last year, including Most Popular TV Soap or Telenovela, Best Actor (Lindani Nkosi) and Supporting Actress (Hlengiwe Lushaba-Madlala). Sdumo Mtshali was named Best Actor in a TV Series at the National Film & TV Awards South Africa, where My Brother’s Keeper was also up for Best TV Drama Series.
The star-studded cast also includes SAFTA winners Wiseman Mncube (Shaka iLembe, The Wife) and Zola Nombona (Lockdown), SAFTA nominee Rosemary Zimu (Savage Beauty) and rising star Mnqobi Kunene (How to Manifest a Man, Outlaws).
My Brother’s Keeper is produced by Rhythm World Productions, who are also behind massive hits like Sibongile & the Dlaminis and Umkhokha the Curse.
THE INSTITUTE S1
First on Showmax | Mondays from 14 July
When 12-year-old genius Luke Ellis is kidnapped, he awakens at The Institute, a facility full of children who all got there the same way he did, and who are all possessed of unusual abilities. In a nearby town, haunted former police officer Tim Jamieson has come looking to start a new life, but the peace and quiet won’t last, as his story and Luke’s are destined to collide.
Based on the Stephen King bestseller, The Institute introduces Joe Freeman as Luke, opposite the likes of Ben Barnes (Shadow & Bone, Chronicles of Narnia) and Emmy winner Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds).
The Institute is directed and executive produced by Emmy winner Jack Bender (Lost, Game of Thrones).
THE AMERICAS S1
Binge from Thursday, 17 July on Showmax
Two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks narrates The Americas, from the Emmy-winning producers of Planet Earth and Blue Planet.
Scored by two-time Oscar winner Hans Zimmer, the documentary series employs revolutionary filmmaking technology to showcase the wonders, secrets and fragilities of the Americas – Earth’s largest landmass and the only one to stretch between both poles.
Filmed over five years, The Americas has an 8.3/10 rating on IMDb and an 86% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes. As The Hollywood Reporter says, “The photography is astonishing. You’re bound to learn something … And provided you root for the cute, baby animals over the gnarly predators, your heart is likely to be lifted three to five times per episode.”
THE ABC KILLER
Showmax Original | Binge from Tuesday, 22 July
In 1995, journalist Tamsen de Beer was working the night shift at The Star newspaper when she got a call from someone claiming to be South Africa’s most prolific serial killer.
The kind of serial killer who would go on to be convicted of 38 murders and 40 rapes – all committed in the space of just over a year, in broad daylight, while sober.
“He was our Ted Bundy,” says director Jasyn Howes. The ABC Killer is his second series in a row for Showmax about a 90s serial killer. The first, Boetie Boer, about Stewart Wilken, was nominated at last year’s SAFTAs for Best Documentary Series and Best Editor (Jaco Laubscher, who also cut The ABC Killer).
Alongside re-enactments filmed in the actual locations where the events took place, Night Shift features interviews with Tamsen, South Africa’s first profiler Micki Pistorius, and former detectives Ettiene “Vinyl” Viljoen, Frans van Niekerk, and Paul Nkomo, among others.
MATLOCK S1
Binge from Wednesday, 23 July on Showmax
Matlock stars Emmy and Oscar winner Kathy Bates as Madeline “Matty” Matlock, a retired lawyer in her 70s who rejoins the workforce at a prestigious law firm. Bates won the 2025 Critics Choice Best Actress: Drama Series award for the role.
The reboot was named Rotten Tomatoes’ fourth best-reviewed drama series of 2024, with a rare 100% critics’ rating, and was the seventh most-watched series of the year, according to Nielsen.
At the Critics Choice Awards, Skye P Marshall (from Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Black Lightning) was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress.
Created by Jennie Snyder Urman (Jane the Virgin), Matlock has already been renewed for a second season.
DEXTER: ORIGINAL SIN S1
Wednesdays from 30 July on Showmax
20-year-old forensic intern Dexter Morgan is about to become everyone’s favourite vigilante serial killer…
Showtime’s most streamed Original ever, the prequel series Dexter: Original Sin is set in Miami in 1991, 15 years before the start of the multi-award-winning original series.
Patrick Gibson (The OA, Shadow and Bone) stars as the young Dexter, with Golden Globe winner Christian Slater as his father, Harry. The cast also includes Emmy nominee Patrick Dempsey (McDreamy from Grey’s Anatomy) and Emmy winner Sarah Michelle Gellar (aka Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Multiple-Emmy nominee Michael C Hall, the original Dexter, voices Dexter’s iconic inner monologue.
Binge all eight seasons of the original Dexter on Showmax from Friday, 4 July. Dexter: Original Sin is also airing on M-Net (DStv Channel 101) at 21:00 on Tuesdays from 29 July.
FOUND S2 BATCH 3
Binge from Thursday, 31 July on Showmax
Found returns from its mid-season break to answer to the show’s most burning questions surrounding Sir’s obsession with recovery specialist Gabi Mosely and her team, as they continue working tirelessly to find missing people forgotten by the system.
As Gabi, Shanola Hampton (Veronica in Shameless) “remains one of the strongest (and most unsung) leads in television today,” says AV Club, while Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Mixed-ish, NYPD Blue) “continues to nail it as Sir … making a meal out of every scene.”
Hampton was up for Best Actress in a Drama Series at the 2025 Critics Choice Awards, with Gosselaar nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama, while the show itself was nominated for Best Action/Thriller Television Series at this year’s Saturn Awards, as well as Outstanding Drama Series at the GLAAD Media Awards.
Created by Nigerian-American Nkechi Okoro Carroll (All American, All American: Homecoming), Found was NBC’s biggest-ever launch on Peacock, and won a NAMIC Vision Award for Drama and a Gracie Allen Award for Hampton. She was also nominated at this year’s Image Awards, where the show was up for Outstanding Drama Series for the second year in a row.
AWARDS UPDATE
Nominations for The Critics Choice Super Awards are out, and you watch lots of them on Showmax, including:
ACTION
- Special Ops: Lioness (Best Actress: Zoe Saldaña)
- The Day of the Jackal (Best Action Series, Limited Series or Made for TV Movie, Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne, Best Actress: Lashana Lynch)
HORROR
- The Last Of Us (Best Horror Series, Limited Series or Made for TV Movie, Best Actor: Pedro Pascal, Best Actress: Bella Ramsey)
- True Detective: Night Country(Best Horror Series, Best Actress: Jodie Foster)
- Yellowjackets (Best Actress: Melanie Lynsky)
SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY
- Dune: Prophecy (Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Series, Limited Series or Made for TV Movie)
- Fantasmas (Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Series, Limited Series or Made for TV Movie, Best Actor: Julio Torres)
SUPERHERO
- The Last Of Us (Best Superhero Series, Limited Series or Made for TV Movie, Best Actor: Pedro Pascal, Best Actress: Bella Ramsey)
- The Penguin (Best Superhero Series, Limited Series or Made for TV Movie, Best Actor: Colin Farrell, Best Actress: Cristin Milioti, Best Villain: Colin Farrell)
The Critics Choice Super Awards will be announced on Thursday, 7 August 2025.
EVERYTHING ON SHOWMAX IN JULY
To see everything on Showmax this July, click here. Additional highlights include:
- the two-part reunion of The Real Housewives of Durban S5
- the BAFTA-winning Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
- Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Rotten Tomatoes‘ best-reviewed fantasy movie of 2025
- the Oscar-nominated Robbie Williams biopic Better Man
- Late Night with the Devil, Rotten Tomatoes’ fourth best-reviewed horror of 2024.
